Ribbon mechanism for type-writers.



v F. snows. RIBBON MECHANISM FOR. TYPE WRITERS.

APPLiOATION FILED MAY 31, 1904.

, Patented July 27, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

. I; Jami??? I P. snows. RIBBON MECHANISM FOR TYPE WRITERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, 1904.

- Patented July 27, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I Toiall whom may concern:

'FBEDE RI CK sHoLEs, OF cnrcAeo, ILLINOIS.

nrnnoinincmmsm FOR Tyre-WR TERS;

no ezaoeo.

- Specification of L area Patent. 'raeentedrui 'a'r, 1909'.

Application merixa er 1904. Serial No. 210,35.

Beit known that I, FnEDnRrcK SHOLES, "a

citizen of the United States of America, and. resident of Ohica'o,county of Cook, and

State of Illinois, av'e' invented a new and juseful Improvementin RibbonMechanism for Ty'pe-lvriters, of which the following. is v My, inventionrelates to improvements in ribbon mechanismfor typewriters, and consists: First, in means whereby when the up per case type upon the typebars are used,

the ribbon is shifted bythe depression of the printing key fromits.normal 'osition-into position for engagement by sue upper case p type,and; second, in means for suitably controlling and guiding the ribbon ator near the Printin are point. These improvements artie arly adapted tothe so-called -visf le writingmachines, since in such machines a narrowribbon is employed, norinally resting to'one sideof the line of printing'to avoid concealing the same and is 'caused toshift at the moment ofprinting to theproperposition to be struekjby the type, and again-toreturn to one side of the printing-point when the key is released. For-.suchflupper-caseprintinga shift key is eniployed for shifting orraising the. printing roller or platen to accommodate the uppercaseetype, and it hasbeen common hereto fore to.- shift or raise theribbon holding or fguiding. devices simultaneously with the platent'operrnit making the proper impression fromthe upper case type. In myin:

1;; ventiom'however, 'Iprovide means whereby whenever it is desired'toemploy-the upper,

'fl-ease type, the ribbon is caused-to shift or: raise for eachdepression of a printing key, from; its normal position to a sufficientdis-- tance or height to accommodatesuchupper case type; This method ofoperating the ribbon dispenses withthe mechanism necessa t'o'simultaneously shift the platen and riligonyfor upper case work, andotherwise simplifies and cheapens the cost of the ma 1 chines. suchshifting of the ribbon for has been experienced withtherib on catch eachcharacter printed, whether of theloweror upper", case, renders thewriting entirely visible atall times. Intheclass of ticularly of'the ntstriking y e, trouble mgupon'the pointer in bein raised andlowcons'iderable trou le and expense have been"goliief to by variousmanufac aehjnes mentioned, '.par-' turers to avoidthe same, in someinstances 11pOI1 '83,Cl1. side of theprinting point, but with thedisadvantage that a portion of the writing is'thus concealed. In myimprove.

ments I avoid the difficulty by providingv a the pointers beingconstructed with prongs ribbon guide in connection with the pointer,

which at all times prevents the trouble rne1ntioned and at the same timepermits the use of a pointer that does not conceal ed matter.

the print- I My invention will be best understood by -r efer ence to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part .of this specification," whichshow one. embodiment. of the invention which has been worked out forcommercialpurposes, thesarne reference characters beingused throughoutthe several views of the drawings to designate. like parts, and inwhich:

lifting or shifting mechanism; Fig. 2 is a de: tail viewof the otherside of the lifting cams; Fig. 3 is a side view of same parts as in Fig.1,

showing their movement for ,upper caseprinting; Fig. i is a view of .theplaten or roller shifting mech-anism; Fig. 5. is a front view of theribbon and pointer; Fig. 6 is a bottom view of the machine. Fig. 7 is afront sectional view'of the same, on the line Figure 1 is a sideelevation of the ribbon.

7-7 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is another detail view;

- In these drawings, 2 designates the platenor printing roller mountedupon the carriageof the machine in the usual or desired manner, and 3the type bars carry- .and Fig. 9 is a side View of the pointer and ingat their, outer ends the lower case type and the upper casetype 5. 'Thetype bars 3 are mounted upon the frame of the machine in any desired orusual manner and are 0p'- I erated fromthe keylevers 6 in any preferredway, as by the links 7; The key levers 6., or-

keys, as they are often termed, are provided at their outer ends withthe ordinary buttons or tips 8, an'd'marked withcharacters corresponding to the type carried by-thecoeperating type bar 3'. At theirends such levels 6 are pivotedto theframe-of the ma-.

chine. The-machine sofa'r described andto which my invention is shownapplied, isv of the type known to. thetrade and a P011; t e mar et asthe Visible Shol es. snagwhich: is manufactured under 464,902 and464,903,"dated --Deeem ei 1891, granted to o. Lathe-m -machines of othertypes and in which the arran ement is eitherhorizontal or vertical.

- he ribbon 'is carried upon the usual spools at each side of the macungeandi's sup- 1 .ported andguided upon each side of the 14-, wherebythe said arms 12'and constitute a U -shaped that whenever shaft 17 andcam word Shift? "printing point which are carried at the uppler ends.of. the.

rods 11, suitably guided in t efrarne of the machine.

hich in turn are loosely mounted upon the I shaft or rod 13-, their rearends being rigidly connected together by the integral member er anrhthearms 12 move in unison. One .nc arms 12 is provided with a roller '15immediately beneath the same is located arr upright cam 16 fixedlysecuredto the shaft-17, that is ro tatabl mounted in the fram'eof themachine.

Thiss aft is provided with wire members 18 which extend forwardly andupwardly with theirhorizontal portions resting beneath the key levers 6,as shown in Figs. 1-, .6; and 7, so a 'key lever is depressed said 16are rocked. This cam is, so shaped at its up rocked forwardly its incmed upper end en-' gages the roller 15 and liftsthe arms 12, which inturn lift the rods 11 and guides-'10, and ,by thismeans the ribbon 9,all as shown in dotted lines in Fig.1,this occurring when ever a key. isdepressed to rint a character, so that at that time the ri the same toexpose the matter written.

For printing capitals or othe'rnrpper' case characters, the cylmder orplaten 2 1s raised or shifted by the depression of the shift key 20 inthe usual or esired manner, the specific mechanism for accomplishin thisbeing omitted, except in Fig. 4, for t e sake ofclearness. This'shiftkey, like the others, is

preferably pivoted at its rear end to the-frameand at its forward endbears a or button suitably marked, as by the link key 20*, 'anda lever20 (Fig; 4) between the'shift key 20 and the of the machine key supportof-theplaten 2, serve tobodilylift the latter when the key is depressedThis shift key is provided with a depending lug or stri 21 rigidlysecured thereto, the lower hoo ed end of which enga' es in h lever 23,which 1s pivoted at 24 to the brace or bar 25, the inner end 26 of awhich is turhedinwardly to the shaft 17 for lever engages withinsupport, while as shown, the outer end may be'suitably b'ent up andformed to receive the'ends ofshafts .17 and 13 and is secured the screws27 beneath the side bar of the i The inner end 28 of this a slot. 29 inthe lower machine frame.

*camplate 30- bythe guides'or loops 10;

The lower ends of said rods are pivoted to the forward ends of the arms12,

. member 1.4:-

of the keys for 11 per case The lower end receive the shaft or end thatwhen.

.have considerable bon will beover; the printing line but-at othertimesisbelow right hand side,

the similarly end 22 (see end of. a second cam plate 30 secured. to theside'of the cam 16 by means Of the rivets or in the screws 31' passingth ough the \slot 32 earn plate 39, this fastening means beingsufifiiently loose to permit the said'cam 30 to be raised by the end 28of the lever 23. This therefore vibrates v or rocks 3 v the shaft 17 andis so 'formedntits upper end as normo-lly'not to lift the roller 15 ofthe ribbon lifting mesh with cam 16' .and

anism, but when 'the'shift key 20 isdepressed f the said cam is ed' tosuch an extent that when .a printing'kiy 6 is depressed and the upperend of said c'am'is rocked forwardly, it engages the roller 15, and thearms '12, rods 11 and ribbon 9 are raised-to a'sufiicientlygreaterheight so that the latter is the ribbon-is lifted a'certainamount for each depression of the key when printing lower case, and byFig. 2 it will be seen that it isthe? engsgedby the uppercase type 5.

Thus. as indicated in dotted lines 111 Fig. 1,

lifted a greater amount/for each depression work;

of the cam 30 is notched to 17, the upper-"edge; of the said notchserving, desired, as a stop against the shaft 17 to limit the downwardmovement of the cam. =The slot 29 permits the rocking of the cam Withoutinterference from the end 28 of levere23. 'The full and dottedlines inFigs. 1, 2,3 and 7 indicate respectively, the lower and uppercasepositions of the parts The hooks 21*and 22 4 lost: motion, as shown,

since only a slight action of the. cam-30 is necessary. By thisarr'angementthe ribbon. is not shifted simultaneously with the'pla'ten,

but is raised from-the same normal position,

whether lower case or uppercase type is printed, whereby .struction ofthe parts "are much simplified the arrangement and and the writing forboth lower and upper case printing is alw. ys entirely visible.

In Figs. 5 and 9 I show means for suitably guiding the ribbon in thisraising and lower ing, the pointer .35 being secured to theframe of themachine 111 the usual or desired manner, and having only one prong 36,upon the thus not covering the last letter written and being providedwith a light wire 37, secured at itsupper "end to the upper'end of theprong or projection 36- and bent as shown Fig. 9, to extend downwardlyand stand out away from the pointer.

The force of the typestriking the outer side of the ribbon is suflicientto carry the same against the roller, while when released the wire 37prevents the-ribbon catching upon the point 35'. This wire may beresilient and maybe variously adjusted to secure the results sought. I i

While I have thus described my invention with specific reference to thedetails of construction shown in the drawings, I do not wish to be solimited in all respects, as it is obviousthat various changes andmodifications may be made therein and still come Within""t'he scopeandprinciple of the invention. But1 j w v Ha'ving'th us described onepractical method of carrying-the invention into eifect, What I claim anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a typewriter, the combination with type bars having upper andlower case type, of printing keys for: operating such bars, a platen, akey to shift said platen into position for uppercase printing, a ribbonnormally at one side of the printing *oint whereby the writing isrendered visib e, a cam operated by the printing keys to shift saidribbon from normal position into printing position whenever a key isdepressed, a second cam controlled by theshift key, whereby when theshift key is depressed the second cam, is

, brought into position, so that the depression of any printing keyshifts the ribbon from normal position to osition for upper. caseprinting, substantial y as described.

2. In a typewriter, the combination with a \platen, of a stationarypointer to indicate the printing point, a ribbon normally at one side ofthe printing position adapted to be raised into printing position foreach depression of a printing key, and a guide associated with saidpointer, to prevent the ribbon catching thereon when being lowered,substantially as "described- 3. Ina typewriter, the combination with aplaten, of apointer to indicate the printing point and having aprojection extending l above said point and to one side of, the same,

a ribbon normally beneath the printing point but adapted .to beraised-intoprinting posi-:

' tion for each depression of aprinting key, andas described.- j 4. In atypewriter, the combination with a guide secured to said projection tonormally hold the ribbon out away from the said pointer whereby theribbon doesnot catch upon the pointer in lowering, substantially frontstriking type bars having upperand lower case type, of a platen, a keyto shift the platen into position for uppercase type, a osition, cam'ribbon below the printing mechanism including a cam avmg an inclinedworking face, to shift the ribbon at each 0 eration of a key, andmechanism con.-

trolle by theshift key for adjusting thecam Witnesses:

mechanism whereby when such key is depressed and a rinting key isoperated the said ribbon is s ifted from the normal posi- I tion to thedescribed.

5'. In a typewriter, the combination with front striking type barshaving upper and printing position, substantially as lower case type, ofa platen, a key to shift the laten into osition for u er case t e, a iock shafh' a ribbon 'nofihally belo vi the printing positions, cammechanism including a cam mounted on-the rock shaft, to'shift the ribbonat each operation of a key, and means controlled by the shift key foradjus'tingth'e cam'mechanism, whereby when said shift key is depressedand a printing key is operated actuated by said cam mechanismfor-shifting the ribbon to printing position, a key to shift the plateninto position for upper case type, and means controlled by said shiftkey for adjusting said cam mechanism.-

7. In a ty ewriter, having frontstriking type barswit u per and'lowercase-type, the

combination wit printing keys for-operatingsuch bars, of a platen, cammechanism controlled by the printing keys, an inking ribbon held normally below printing position, means loosely carried on said cammechanism for shifting the ribbon to printing position, a key to shiftthe platen into position for up er case type, and means controlled bysaid s ift 'keyfl'for adjusting said cam mechanism.

8-. In a typewriter or the like, in comblnation a cam rigidly mounted ona shaft, a second cam slidably mounted on said first-mentioned c'am,and, means .for' actuating said second cam independently of'the otherftocauserelative longitudinal movement of the cams.

Signed by meatObicago', county of Cook,-

State of Illinois, int'he presenceof two wit nesses,"

- FREDERICK SHOLES Q I A GUsr KELLER,

ROBERT Lnwls jAMES.

